Zynga Testing New Advertising Technique

Essentially, the concept is not that dissimilar to product placement in film and television, but possibly a little more obvious to the viewer. The idea is relatively simple: a company arranges the advertising with Studio E, and their brand is then featured in a level within one of Zynga's game. The company is then charged a certain amount each time the level is played. Whilst the product would be prominently at the heart of the particular level being played, the experience is designed to remain inherently true to the game so as to keep the experience for the user gamelike and not feel like an advert.

So far, two companies have tested the ad format; Clorox and Naked Juice. In both cases, Zynga measured a double digit increase in the number of people who opted to play a sponsored level compared to those who watch all the way through an in-game video advert, indicating that perhaps Zynga see this as a better way forward compared to the traditional method of inserting an advert between levels which has caused controversy among some players, especially those on metered data connections.

So what do the great people of GameGrin think? Are you looking forward to harvesting Coca Cola in Farmville and getting bonus points for playing the word "Pepsimax" on a double word square in Words with Friends? Could we even see a replacement for microtransations and please Kanye West?